


Shout It From The Rooftops

by Faded_BlueEyes



Series: Ereri Week 2015 [1]
Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Bad Flirting, Cheesy, Happy Ending, M/M, Mutual Pining, Pining, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-01
Updated: 2015-06-01
Packaged: 2018-04-02 09:37:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,081
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4055197
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Faded_BlueEyes/pseuds/Faded_BlueEyes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This was ridiculous. Levi had done absolutely everything. There wasn't much more he could do except actually climb a rooftop and yell 'I like you, Eren Jaeger! Do you wanna go out?' and that was so not his style. It all would have been easier if Eren wasn't so oblivious.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Shout It From The Rooftops

**Author's Note:**

> My entry for Ereri Week 2015.   
> Day 1: Pining

In hindsight, Levi wasn't completely sure how he became friends with Eren. 

Eren was the jock; passionate about sports and fitness, never giving up when the other team seemed better, always surrounded by masses and masses of people wanting to get on his good side. Eren was the jock everyone loved, and unlike the cliche, he was perfectly polite, too. He was good in most subjects (except physics, God, Eren sucked at physics) and held up slightly above average grades. 

Everyone wanted to be friends with him, and Levi didn't blame them. Eren had a great sense of humor – the one where he wouldn't stand for sexist or offending jokes, he was very good looking with the unruly dark hair and bright, teal-green eyes and he was the friend who would always stand up and protect you, never wavering for even a second. 

All this, and Eren was a sophomore. 

As a senior, however, Levi ironically never seemed to have grown out of that freshman goth phase. Always adorning all black, he desired minimal contact with the rest of the school body and wanted to get the hell out of there as soon as possible. 

And then, of course, he had to go and fall in love with the damn sophomore jock who had, quite literally, burst into his life. 

For an athlete, Eren was clumsy as fuck. 

It seemed so cliche, but Levi thanked God for that moment in the library; the moment when Eren – while browsing for the correct physics books – managed to trip over a pile of neatly stacked books, crash into a shelf, make the shelf topple over with the tens of books upon it, then somehow twirl to collapse onto Levi's table, smashing the small lamp set upon it and everything. 

And because Levi was the only one in the library at the time, he got stuck in detention with Eren right after he burst out laughing. The friendship began. 

And that's what Eren was: a good friend. Though always surrounded by people, Eren never failed to spare time and find Levi during their breaks, sitting down with him to chat, and laugh, and perhaps gossip a little bit – though Levi would deny the last one. 

And yeah, so maybe they hung out after school a few times. They shared their obsession with superhero movies and it was an unspoken agreement that they went to see all the new ones together. They would walk out of the cinema covered in popcorn, and grinning, their laughter echoing the streets. 

Up until the point where Eren reached over, plucked a piece of popcorn of Levi's shirt and ate it. Though disgusted, Levi knew he was screwed as Eren's smiled lit up the street. 

And yeah, so Eren forced him to come to the football games, but Levi was never alone and Eren always scored them free food afterward, so it was probably worth it. Besides, he would have went just to watch Eren be involved so passionately in something he clearly loved. 

In hindsight, Levi should probably have stopped staring so much. 

“How's it going, Tom Hansen?” Banging on the locker beside him, Levi turned to find Hanji grinning at him. Hair tied up in a ponytail and thick glasses framing her face, she grinned at him with that cheeky, knowing smile she usually sent his way. 

“What the fuck did you just call me?” 

“I've decided to use my extreme knowledge of films to come up with original nicknames for you. Tom Hansen was the guy in '500 Days of Summer'.” She explained, the grin continuously present on her face. “You know, the movie about unrequited love.” 

“Fuck off.” 

“As always, your range of vocabulary is impeccable.” She rolled her eyes. “Then again, you have been staring at Eren for the past ten minutes, so you might be a bit dazed.” She followed Levi's gaze and grinned again,”It is like looking at the sun.” 

“What's wrong with Romeo now?” Turning, Levi groaned and banged his head against the locker as he found Erwin leaning on the other side of him. 

“Romeo,” Levi murmured. “It's getting better. At least Juliet loved him back.” 

“They did die in the end,” Hanji pointed out. “Not a story you want to be a part of, if you ask me.” 

“You know,” Erwin started, and Levi rolled his eyes as the blond began playing with the letter on his varsity jacket. “There's an after school practice tomorrow,” He started, “If you stayed behind...” He trailed off and grinned as Hanji nodded along excitedly. “You could even use me as an excuse.” 

“It's an excuse for you to get me to watch you show off to everyone,” Levi sneered. “Just because you hit a growth spurt - “ 

“It's not a growth spurt at this age - “ 

“ - You think everyone's eyes will be on you.” 

“Everyone's eyes are usually on me,” Erwin pointed out with a shrug and a smug smile. 

Momentarily, Eren paused in his conversation with Annie to look around and his eyes fell on Levi. He grinned and gave Levi a wave, to which Levi hesitantly (and awkwardly) waved back. 

“Are you blushing?” Hanji asked, eyes narrowing as she leaned closer to inspect his face. “I can't tell through all the make up...” 

“I'm not wearing make up,” Levi rolled his eyes. “Except for the obvious.” The eyeliner. Always the eyeliner. 

“Then yes,” Erwin added. “He's blushing. Hard.” 

“The both of you can fuck right off,” Levi huffed, closing his locker and heading down the hallway, throwing up his middle finger to the two idiots laughing behind him. 

~~*~~*~~

Somehow, though, Levi came to a conclusion that he should tell Eren. It was all getting too much, and if Eren rejected him, then that was it and at least he would know. And if he didn't... Well, that's a dream come true. 

So he went to the after school practice and sat in the bleachers while the jocks played football. Erwin grinned over and waved occasionally, but he knew all of Levi's attention was set on Eren. 

So the moment Eren began heading his way during the break, Erwin disappeared somewhere and Levi smiled as the sophomore collapsed on the seat beside him. 

“Stalker much, Levi?” Eren joked. 

“You're right,” Levi shrugged. “I stalk you. Like, I know for a fact that after this you're going home, you're going to eat some of your mother's spaghetti and then you're gonna have a bubbly bath, playing with the strawberry-smelling bubbles for hours to come.” 

“Well, you're obviously right about the bath,” Eren laughed. “Although, wrong – it's pizza night today.” 

“Damn.” 

“No, but seriously,” Eren began with a grin again. “I've invited you to these practices for the past few months. What made you come today?” 

“I have a problem,” Levi admitted slowly. 

Eren furrowed his eyebrows, “Can I help?” Of course Eren would ask that. 

“Well, see, I'm crushing real hard on this guy...” Levi started hesitantly and Eren raised an eyebrow. 

“Okay,” He said, waiting for Levi to continue. 

“And um...” Levi paused and chuckled breathlessly. “He's absolutely amazing. He's a jock, but he's one of the best people I've ever met in my life.” 

Eren smiled small, “Go on.” 

“And, when he smiles I can tell I'm blushing – and my friends keep pointing it out – and when he talks to me, I get some weird ass butterflies in my stomach and he - “ Levi paused and licked over his lip. “He's absolutely gorgeous, which is why I don't think I have a chance. He's got those - “ Pausing again, he turned to face Eren, gazes connecting, “ - he's got those beautiful, bright eyes that just make me want to melt.” 

Facing each other, Eren said nothing for a moment before smiling slowly. He leaned closer, and Levi's heart jumped in his chest. “You know,” Eren started in a whisper. “I can ask Erwin if he likes you too.” 

Wait. What?

“Come again?” Levi spoke up, coming out of the daze. 

“Levi, you're head over heels in love with this guy!” Eren grinned and leaned back, wrapping one of his arms around Levi's shoulders. “Is that why you came to the practice?” Eren grinned, clearly entertained by the revealing. “Oh God, and you guys keep exchanging those knowing looks! He totally likes you too!” 

“Eren, I - “ Levi started again, still quite confused about what the hell was happening. When Eren raised an eyebrow, Levi realised what happened; Eren would never even consider the fact that Levi could have a crush on him. “You're right.” He simply shrugging, smiling small. 

“Awesome! I'll talk to him, get a feel of what he thinks and I'll get back to you!” Eren jumped off to his feet. He then paused, leaned down and wrapped his arms around Levi in a tight hug. Instinctively, Levi wrapped his arms around him too. “Thanks for telling me.” Eren whispered, hot breath hitting Levi's ear. “I know it must be hard.” 

Damn right it was. 

~~*~~*~~

“Okay. You can do this, Jack Twist.” Getting a confused look from Levi, Hanji rolled her eyes. “Jack Twist. Brokeback Mountain?” 

“Ah, so now we're getting into the gay territory,” Levi sighed and shook his head. “Why do I feel like these nicknames will start to become more and more accurate?” 

“That's because they will,” Hanji simply commented. “Now go. You can do this.” 

“Eren,” Catching Eren by his locker, Levi suddenly felt like he was caught in a spider's web. When Eren turned to face him, those bright teal-green orbs set entirely on Levi, he wasn't sure how he was going to get the next few words out. “Hey.” He breathed out. 

“Hey, Levi,” Eren smiled. “How's it going?” 

“Are you busy tonight?” 

“Not particularly.” Eren shrugged, turning back to the contents of his locker for a moment. 

“Get dinner with me.” It took everything he had to get the sentence out. 

Eren paused in his actions and turned to look at Levi. He seemed to think about it for a moment before he nodded, “Okay.” 

“Seriously?” Levi couldn't believe it. 

“Why are you so surprised?” Eren laughed, and Levi felt himself warming up instantly. “Should we get food and then see a movie? Or do you wanna come back to mine for a movie marathon? It's a Friday night, after all.” And then it was all gone. 

“No, I meant - “ 

“Did you wanna get something fancier?” Eren asked curiously and then shrugged. “I'm up for some Indian.” He suddenly faced Levi and snapped his fingers, “Why don't we go to that French restaurant, mess up all our orders and mock their accents?” 

“That - “ Levi started slowly, “That sounds great.” 

“Cool.” Eren closed his locker. “Meet at the usual spot at 7?” 

“Sure.” Levi gave up. How much more obvious could he be?

~~*~~*~~

The answer to that question came on Valentine's Day. 

Levi decided to give it one more try, and he wasn't subtle at all when he sent twenty bouquets of roses to Eren's locker. He bribed the janitor to put some of them inside the locker, and left the rest to lay around the locker itself. He signed the card as 'be my valentine? - L ' 

Therefore, when the next morning arrived and students traveling down the hallways sent curious glances at the stack of roses in the hallway, Levi couldn't help but feel smug.

Eren's friends had gathered around the locker, whispering and giggling, waiting for Eren's arrival. 

When Eren set foot in the hallway, yells immediately alerted him of something. Seeing the roses stacked on the floor by where his locker was, he furrowed his eyebrows and approached. 

“You got a valentine, Eren!” 

“Who is it, Eren?” 

“Quite a dedicated one!”

“Go on, Jaeger! Check who it's from!”

Eren opened his locker, and laughed as more roses fell out, together with a card. The people around him cheered, and Eren picked the card up. He read it; and this was it. 

Flinging an arm over his shoulders, Jean had draped over Eren and read the card. “L?” Jean's voice was loud and domineering. “Did you see this guys? Leonhardt sent Eren all those flowers!” 

And Levi swore he would fucking kill someone today. 

The group cheered and Eren grinned, slowly scanning the hallway in search of Annie Leonhardt. 

And Levi understood; Eren and Annie had been flirting non-stop recently. It made sense. It made sense to think it was Annie who sent them. After all, Levi was Eren's friend and it seemed, that's what he would always be. 

“It was a great gesture though, Gatsby,” Beside him, Hanji appeared, looking sorry and sad for him. 

“Gatsby, huh?” Levi murmured. “You're right. It's getting really accurate.” He slammed his locker closed and walked away from the cheering surrounding Eren. 

~~*~~*~~

This was ridiculous. Levi had done absolutely everything. There wasn't much more he could do except actually climb a rooftop and yell 'I like you, Eren Jaeger! Do you wanna go out?' and that was so not his style. It all would have been easier if Eren wasn't so oblivious.

He moped for two weeks, where he avoided Eren as much as he could. The simple text from Eren which read 'Are you mad at me? Did I do something wrong? X' absolutely broke his heart. 

So for two weeks of moping around, not talking to his friends and eating ice cream non-stop, he realised there were only a few weeks of school left, and then he would be going off to college, and might not see Eren ever again. 

He wouldn't let Eren be the one that got away. 

He had to at least try. One last time. 

And this time, for Eren to get it, maybe he should shout it from a rooftop. 

Or, well, something close to it. Shouting from a rooftop was still way not his style, but the bleachers weren't as high, and the football field didn't have as many people as the whole school would have. 

Granted, Levi risked embarrassing himself in front of all the football players aka the jocks that would give him hell, but he trusted Erwin enough to know the guys wouldn't bother him (if they dared anyway) and there were only a few weeks left; it was now or never. 

So with the help of Hanji, they managed to steal one of the microphones and with a quick thumbs up, Levi was standing on the bleachers alone, holding the working microphone in his hand. 

Besides, even if Eren's didn't like him that way, Eren would be nice enough to let him down gently. 

So, inhaling a large breath, he brought the microphone up to his lips and sighed. 

The sigh echoed through the speakers and caught everyone's attention; immediately, everybody began looking around for the source. 

“Eren.” 

Eren's head shot up with the rest, but upon recognizing Levi's voice, he immediately looked over to the bleachers and grinned as he saw Levi standing there in his usual black on black attire. His lips formed the word 'Levi.' Levi couldn't help but also notice Erwin's smug expression from the corner of his eye. 

“This is stupid. I feel stupid.” 

Eren laughed along with a few more, along with Erwin yelling out 'you look pretty stupid too!'

“Shut up, bushy eyebrows,” Levi snapped into the microphone and focused on Eren again. “I'm not being subtle anymore.” He said and watched the confusion wash over Eren's face. “When I spoke to you about my crush? Right there?” He pointed to the seats they had sat on when they spoke. “I was talking about you.” 

Gasps and yells immediately erupted amongst the small crowd, and Levi thought he heard Hanji cheer somewhere in the distance. 

Eren's face remained unreadable. 

“And then when I was talking about making plans?” Levi continued. He was standing with one foot in his grave already, so he might as well continue. “I was trying to ask you out.” 

This time, he was sure he heard Hanji yell 'you go, Gatsby!' somewhere in the distance.

“Oh and the roses?” Levi chuckled, his chuckle echoing around through the speakers. “Also me. Levi. L.” He licked over his lips and looked away. “Sorry if this made you uncomfortable. I just needed you to know.” Not seeing any changes in Eren's expression, Levi simply dropped the microphone (making a high pitched noise echo) and began walking down the bleachers, leaving the scene of the crime. 

He could feel Erwin's sympathetic eyes boring into his back as he walked away from the bleachers and nobody stopped him. 

And then, his name, said loudly. “Levi,” Eren repeated, voice echoing around the speakers. Levi turned quickly, finding Eren with the microphone brought up to his mouth, smiling lightly. 

“When you were telling me, I was absolutely crushed that you were crushing on someone with so many similarities to me,” Eren chuckled. “Guess I was stupid, huh?” He cleared his throat and Levi opened his mouth to say something, but nothing was coming out. Did Eren return his feelings?

“And the plans? I didn't realise you were asking me out. If I had, I would have stopped making a joke out of it.” Eren said, his words for the whole football field to hear. “And the roses? When I saw the 'L', my heart stopped for a moment thinking they might be from you. I was disappointed if it was Annie.” Eren smiled softly. “Because I don't want Annie. I want you; and I have ever since I made the biggest dork out of myself and you simply laughed and then helped me clean up in detention.” 

“So, for real now: 7 o'clock tonight. And you can pick me up since you drive.” Eren grinned, eyes focused solely on Levi. Levi felt his chest quickly heating up with the adoration he felt for Eren. 

“Oh kiss him, honey!” Hanji's yell sounded from somewhere. 

Eren shrugged and began slowly but dramatically heading down the stairs of the bleachers. That is, until the principal arrived in the distance, yelling about a 'stolen mic!' and 'you kids will pay!'. 

By then, Eren's pace had quickened and he was suddenly running past Levi, grabbing his hand along the way and pulling him along. With a short laugh, Levi followed the other in their escape. 

Now, in hindsight, Levi should have just shouted all of it from the rooftop; it would have saved him a lot of trouble.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed that :)   
> Thanks for reading!  
> [Tumblr](http://surveycorpscastiel.tumblr.com/)


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